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PEOPLE FLOW |
T
he legendary London
Underground carries
more than one billion
passengers annually.
Also known as the
Tube, the London
Underground marks its
150th anniversary in 2013. Transport for
London owns the underground, which is
comprised of eleven lines that serve 270
stations connecting 8 million people in
the British capital.
Much of the intricate underground
network is dependent on a system of
well-maintained KONE elevators and
escalators that transport passengers
safely and efficiently to platforms.
“At the moment, we maintain 150
escalators and 45 elevators, which
account for one-third of London
Underground’s equipment-base,” says
Adam Lawrie
, KONE’s London Under-
ground Operations Director, who heads
a team of 100 KONE service technicians.
behind the sCenes
Installation, service and maintenance
work are largely invisible to passengers,
with as much of the work as possible
carried out from 1 am to 5 am when the
underground is closed to the public.
One of the shared goals of London
Underground and KONE is to avoid
station closures at any cost.
Over 40 million people pass through the
Canary Wharf underground station each
year. The station is on the Jubilee line,
which was extended in 2000 as part of the
London Underground’s biggest expansion
project in more than 20 years. KONE
provided 34 elevators, 118 escalators
and two autowalks for 11 stations.